Cindy of arc
The CEnter at west park presents
Cindy of arc
As a part of the Evolution Festival
Saturday, September 19, 2025 @ 7:30PM
Location
Appropriate for 18+
What is a Scold’s Bridle? What is the song Delta Dawn really about? Why are there no Jews in Whoville? In this incredibly timely and subversive play, your guide, Cindy, will take you through an abridged history of men's stories in order to answer these and other pressing questions. Think American Utopia with expletives, politics, religion, Nazis, dogs, cannibals, no David Byrne, and no Utopia. And it's a comedy. And we wear our shoes. Cindy of Arc is brought to you by award-winning writer, musician, and comedian Cynthia Kaplan, Emmy-winning, Tony-nominated director Dani Davis, and three musicians named Mike. It was a finalist for the 2023 Richard Rodgers Award for Musical Theatre and has toured regionally to rave reviews.
"Brilliant and blistering... a special blend of the poppiest of Jello Biafra and Mojo Nixon’s Prairie Home Invasion political satire cuts, folded into Lauren Weedman’s comedic musical commentary whipped with the stalwart feminist political devotion of The Raging Grannies."
-NWTheatre.org
"A thoughtful, intelligent, and laugh-out-loud event... That stage is her bully pulpit and she knows it, making use of every square inch, every spotlight, every applause, and every chance she’s given to exercise her voice (and) demonstrate her deep talents."
-Maryland Theatre Guide
"Hilarious...Like many great comics of yesteryear (Lenny Bruce and Richard Pryor come to mind), Kaplan does good things with bad words...The show gave me early 90’s riot grrl political anarcho-punk folk meets Violent Femmes-style pop-rock."
-Baltimore Fishbowl
"Raucously successful...A one-woman rock-n-roll tour through human history, mythology, literature, and more."
-WBJC Radio, Maryland
Witty, angry, sparkling... Transcendence happens."
-Bully Pulpit
"Ms. Kaplan is epically funny, and hyper-intelligent...Make sure to buy for your friends that might want to go. If your friends don’t then find better friends and go with them." -Folk Music Notebook Radio
If you see one comedy this year about the history of misogyny AND has a songs about migraines, avocado toast, and The Donner Party, see this. Because no other show has that.
Written and performed by Cynthia Kaplan
Featuring Dan Barman, and Zachary Larson, and Scott Stein
Additional Orchestrations by Christopher Jahnke
Music Direction by Scott Stein
Music Supervision by Nate Patton
Lighting Design by Bob Bonniol
Sound Design by Justin Brown
Projections by R. Sikoryak
Directed by Dani Davis
About the Lead Artist
Cynthia Kaplan is a NYC based writer, musician, actor, and the author of two acclaimed collections of comic essays, Why I’m Like This: True Stories (a Barnes & Noble Discover book) and Leave the Building Quickly. Her writing has appeared in print, on TV, in theaters, and in film, and she, herself, has appeared in many of these places. She fronts the award-winning band, The Cynthia Kaplan Ordeal, and is a co-host of the long-running Ruthless Comedy Hour at New York Comedy Club. Cindy of Arc was a finalist for the 2023 Richard Rodgers Award for Musical Theater and has toured regionally. Time Out NY wrote of her: "If you're lucky, Kaplan will sing and play guitar, and then you'll laugh until you can't breathe." She has never appeared on Law & Order.
The CWP Evolution Festival is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.
